culture

From CNN: Television pioneer and longtime CBS executive Don Hewitt, the creator of “60 Minutes,” has died, the network said Wednesday. He was 86. Hewitt, who had been battling pancreatic cancer, died at his home in Bridgehampton, New York, surrounded by his family, CBS said. The winner of eight Emmy and two Peabody awards, Hewitt…

From NewsOne: Members of the nation’s oldest black sorority are alleging more financial misdeeds by their president, who is already accused of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of the group’s money on questionable expenses, including a wax statue of herself. Eight members of Alpha Kappa Alpha filed a lawsuit in D.C. Superior Court in…

One of the best bits of advice that I have heard about retiring came from legendary college football announcer Keith Jackson. He said, in what was to be his last game in the broadcast booth, “if you want to leave at the appropriate time, then plan on leaving early.” Of course, Jackson didn’t follow his…

From the AP: BALTIMORE — Three white men shouting racial slurs beat a 76-year-old black man while he was fishing in a river early Tuesday, said Baltimore police, who were investigating the attack as a hate crime. The assailants also stole the man’s sport-utility vehicle, said Anthony Guglielmi, a police spokesman. Police caught up with…

From Deadspin: King, perhaps having gained experience from his unsanctioned LAPD-rules handicap match, will be joining the celebrity boxing circuit with a bout against a former police officer. This will be handled with the utmost class, I’m sure. He’ll be taking on Simon Aouad, a former Chester County (PA.) cop who was busted a few…

From BET: Burl Toler, the first African-American official in NFL history who went on to work one Super Bowl in a distinguished career, has died. He was 81. The University of San Francisco says Toler died Sunday at a hospital in Castro Valley. Toler was a star player on the Dons famous “Undefeated, Untied, Uninvited”…

From HListed: Um…alrighty then.

From NewsOne: California authorities say a man caused a traffic jam when he threw money onto a Los Angeles-area freeway and people dashed into the lanes to grab the cash. California Highway Patrol Sgt. Kurt Stormes says the man tossed money from his car on Interstate 210 in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendora shortly…

From Deadspin: Michael Vick spoke with the creases of James Brown’s forehead yesterday. Again we were treated to the spectacle of a man who has profited off a brutal, inhumane sport nonetheless claiming the moral high ground. I refer to James Brown. A flock of father confessors has surrounded Vick since his release from prison,…

From Al Jazeera: Nigerian police have detained hundreds of people belonging to an Islamic community in the state of Niger.The arrests on Saturday came weeks after a radical sect killed almost 800 people in the north of the country. About 1,500 police officers backed by reinforcements from the capital, Abuja, had surrounded the compound of the…